I read the Melody Maker like Marcel Proust says Elizabeth Peyton (b. Danbury CT 1965 lives
and works in New York and Berlin). She first attracted attention in the mid-1990s with stylized
and idealized portraits of her friends pop stars and members of European royal houses. These
characters androgynous figures rife with sexual ambivalence appear in small-format pictures
executed in various techniques: oil on canvas watercolor or pencil drawing on paper etching.
Peyton's sources are photographs she either takes herself or sources from the yellow press and
so her art is inspired by the studio portraits of well-known photographers like Alfred
Stieglitz and Robert Mapplethorpe. The painter she says she admires most is David Hockney many
critics also see the influence of Andy Warhol who often portrayed celebrities. Elizabeth
Peyton has captured the faces of an entire generation (of artists) in pictures that show a very
personal touch. The book presents highlights of herportraiture created between 1994 and 2014:
David Hockney Kurt Cobain Patti Smith Robert Mapplethorpe Jude Law Jake Chapman Lady Di
and others. With essays by Laura Hoptman and Boris Pofalla.
